How to reboot your career without blowing up your life
A lived-in framework for mid-career fog
Understand the feeling
You’re not lost. You’ve just outgrown the current version of your life.
You have a good job. You’re capable. You’re getting paid. But you wake up on Monday and ask, “What’s the point?” Often that’s not burnout but misalignment. And you don’t need a crisis to fix it, but you do need a system.
Here’s what that system looks like.
The Five Layers of the Reboot Framework
This is the full stack I’ve built over multiple transitions, from bar work, sales, recruitment, design communities, and product building. I’ve also used variations of this with 100+ people I’ve worked with one-on-one.
You don’t need to follow every step at once.
But they compound. And the earlier layers make the later ones easier.
1. SIGNAL: Reconnect with what actually matters to you
Before you chase a new job, title, or industry, figure out what your system is trying to tell you. Most people skip this and get stuck again later.
Try this:
Write down what gave you energy in the past 2 weeks. Not what you were good at — what felt alive.
Ask 3 people, “What do you think I’m great at that I don’t always see?”
Google or ChatGPT combinations of those things. Seriously. That’s how I found recruitment while bartending. I googled “I like helping people + I’m good at talking to strangers.” That search changed my life.
This step is about noticing. Don’t make a big move yet. Your only job is to observe what lights you up and what patterns emerge.
2. STRATEGY: Make the leap logical, not chaotic
Once you spot a few things that feel real like a skill, an industry, a curiosity, you need to figure out the bridge.
Ask:
What is the easiest entry point to this space?
What do people in this world actually look for when hiring or collaborating?
What’s the shortest path that gets me in the room?
Example:
I wanted to get into recruitment, but I had no experience. I noticed that 6 months of agency experience was a requirement for most jobs. I didn’t have that. But some places would accept 18 months of sales instead. So I took the lowest-tier sales job I could find. Worked it. Learned the ropes. Got into recruitment from there.
This was a strategic move. Not random. Not romantic.
You want a transition that’s possible with your current resources.
3. SURFACE AREA: Put yourself in rooms where lucky things can happen
You won’t find your next move on a job board. You’ll find it by being around people who are doing what you want to do.
Try this:
Go to one meetup in an industry you're curious about.
Join one Slack group or Discord community.
DM one person a week who does something you're interested in and ask, “Can I ask how you broke into this space?”
Post one short thought online about what you’re exploring. Something real. Doesn’t have to be polished.
Example:
A friend of mine wanted to break into sales. He had no experience. He got a degree in his 30s, couldn’t find a job, and went back to bartending to pay the bills. One night, a customer noticed how well he handled people and said, “You ever thought about sales? I’m hiring.” That conversation got him the role he was chasing.
Luck happens where attention exists. Give people a chance to notice you.
4. STABILITY: Protect your runway so you can think long-term
Do not quit your job in a moment of frustration if you don’t have a buffer. I’ve made this mistake more than once. When you leave without a plan or savings, your focus shifts from growth to survival and that’s a terrible place to reinvent from.
Here’s how to avoid that:
Use your current job to fund the transition.
Allocate one night or weekend block per week to explore or build the new thing.
Set a financial runway goal. E.g. “I need X saved before I go full-time into Y.”
You don’t need to blow up your life. You need to build a bridge while you’re still stable. That gives you power.
5. STACK: Let small actions compound
Once you’re in motion, keep going even if it feels slow.
You don’t need to have it all figured out.
You just need to follow what feels real, and keep stacking things that build toward it.
Example of stacking:
You explore a curiosity in fintech
You post once a week about what you're learning
A founder reaches out and says “Hey, want to help me validate this?”
You do a side project, and that becomes a case study
That case study gets you the interview for a role that wasn't even posted
That’s how reinvention actually works. Not in one leap. In small, intentional, visible steps.
If you only remember one thing
Do not wait for certainty before you move.
Certainty comes from momentum.
Clarity follows action.
Start small.
Do it quietly if you want.
But start.
Writing this inspired me to build a tiny tool you can try right now. It takes 5 minutes, costs nothing, and might shift how you think about what’s next.
